Cryopreservation—Sperms, Eggs and Embryos

Storage of Sperm

You and your partner may wish to store sperms in the laboratory if your partner cannot be present for some reason during your treatment cycle, if he has had difficulty in producing semen previously or if previous tests have confirmed that there have been problems with semen analysis or production. A single man may also wish to store his semen for future use under reasonable circumstances.

Ideally, the samples should be produced in the laboratory, as the results tend to be better. There needs to be two or three days abstention before producing a sample.

You and your partner may use your sperm at any time, either here or at any other licensed clinic. The children resulting from such use will be your legal children.You are free at any time to withdraw or vary your consent to store or use your sperm unless, of course, the sperm has already been used in treatment. Counselling is available should you require it..

You must be aware that there is an annual storage fee which you will need to pay every year for your sperm to remain in storage.. In the
case of non-payment of the charges when the donor is alive, the bank
would have the right to destroy the semen sample or give it to a bonafide
organisation to be used only for research purposes. In the case of the
death of the donor, the semen would become the property of the legal
heir or the nominee of the donor at the time the donor gives the sample
for storage to the bank. All other conditions that apply to the donor
would now apply to the legal heir, excepting that he cannot use it for
having a woman of his choice inseminated by it. If after the death of the
donor, there are no claimants, the bank would have the right to destroy
the semen or give it to a bonafide research organisation to be used onlyfor research purposes.

It should be understood that all discussions, information during counselling, etc, will remain entirely confidential.

Egg Storage (Egg Freezing)

A woman may wish to consider egg freezing and storage of her eggs under two circumstances.
Firstly if you are in your childbearing years and are scheduled to have medical treatment which may prove detrimental to your future fertility such as cancer treatment. You would then need to liaise with your cancer / medical specialist about the benefits and risks of having fertility treatment before you decide to embark on the procedure of freezing your eggs.

Secondly if you, under reasonable circumstances, cannot procreate a child using your own eggs at the present time as it is in the case of a single womanThis would depend on your age, your hormone levels besides other factors.

The chances of the eggs surviving after they are frozen and then fertilising them after they have thawed are low at the present time and only a few pregnancies have been reported globally, which have been created after eggs are frozen and then successfully thawed for use.

The procedure of retrieving eggs to then freeze them is not as simple and straight forward as semen production since the woman has to undergo the initial phase of the traditional IVF treatment using medications in order to make supernumerary eggs and then retrieving the eggs.

Currently there are no available methods to grow the eggs from ovarian tissue and this process is still being researched on.

Frozen Embryos

In IVF cycles, the ovaries respond by producing several eggs which are collected and fertilised in the embryology laboratory with your partners sperms.

Even if we gat more than 2 good embryos, we transfer only 2 good embryos into your womb. The other embryo’s are then frozen and preserved and can be used in subsequent cycles after slow thawing.
In the frozen embryo transfer cycle, you will be given medication to prepare your uterus to accept the embryos which are then transferred into your womb.